HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [9.46 pm]: I rise because I want to acknowledge the WA Disability Support Awards for this year, which was held on Saturday night. I was very privileged to attend and in attendance was also the Minister for Disability Services, Hon Stephen Dawson, as well as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Disability Services, Reece Whitby, and Patrick Gorman, the federal member for Perth. It was a terrific night.
HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [9.45 pm]: I rise tonight because I want to speak to the issues raised by the government’s response to a question I asked in Parliament last week about the prevalence of hate crime in this state. I am concerned that the minister’s response to my question demonstrated that the government does not have a very good grasp on what hate crime is, or even on its prevalence in this state. The minister advised that the Western Australia Police Force collects data only on racist harassment and incitement to racial hatred.
